This invention relates to the measuring of the impact of stimuli on individuals and, more particularly to evaluating the short term and long term effectiveness of broadcast and print stimuli under varying circumstances.
Market researchers currently make great efforts to improve the degree of accuracy and validity of results that measure the impact and lasting effect of isolated and combined purchase stimuli such as television and radio commercials, as well as print advertisements. Yet, no method or system for achieving these objectives has been available. A particularly important target area of market research has been the assessment and evaluation of the continuing effectiveness of advertising and sales promotions presented to a shopper before the shopper enters a retail store, as affected by various types of in-store promotions and point-of-purchase advertising.
Also, heretofore, there has been no technique available to market researchers to quantitatively measure on an individual or on a household basis the effect of variables affecting promotions, such as frequency and timing of stimuli, shopping inducements and their effect on different population segments.
It therefore is an object of the present invention to quantify the initial impact and the continuing effectiveness of advertising on shoppers with respect to an identified advertisement in terms of the purchase of the advertised product. It is another object to measure the magnitude of sales which are lost and are excluded from a shopper's intended purchases. Most of these purchases are directed to a different product as a consequence of in-store advertising and the promotion of product competitive with the product initially selected for purchase by said shopper based on the immediate impact of the advertisement.
It is another object of the invention to quantify the impact on shoppers of a number of controlled variables of an advertising or promotional campaign, individually or in combination.
Manufacturers of packaged consumer goods sold in supermarkets sometimes find it difficult to obtain market data from these supermarkets. Yet, such manufacturers who are large advertisers are anxious to obtain as much feedback as possible giving them reliable information not only with respect to the overall redemption of coupons, but broken down by households or, ideally, by individual family members. Such information would be of utmost value to all advertisers in that, once the buying habit or pattern of an individual household is known, marketing efforts can be focused on individual shoppers or families and the mailing cost and other expenses of indiscriminate direct mailings can be avoided. A typical example would be an elderly couple for which the said cumulative record would indicate no babyfood purchase and would obviate corresponding coupon mailings.
The above objectives are attained by the invention by compiling a cumulative record as described in a form that lends itself to direct communication between families and manufacturers without requiring efforts or expenses by retailers.
The methods of the invention utilize shoppers' implementations of individual personal buying decisions, as evidenced by requested discount coupons, in the quantitative measurement of a shopper's buying behavior. At the same time, shoppers' buying decisions are used as yardsticks in the evaluation of the effectiveness of discrete functions of purchase stimuli.
All coupons, by their numbers or other identifications, can be traced to the household having requested them. This makes it possible to compare the coupons requested and redeemed with the coupons requested and not redeemed by individual families or shopping units. The method also permits an evaluation of each individual stimulus or advertisement household by household.
It may not be necessary to provide for all of these indications by shoppers on a nationwide scale, as market research on a more limited scale will yield data essential with respect to some marketing aspects, such as product development, packaging and overall advertising. In other respects, however, household by household data and purchasing behavior are valuable, such as in respect to direct mailings. These and other benefits of the invention are described herein.